Google, Facebook, & Apple are all trying to outdo each other when it comes to security and encryption. On the surface, this sounds great, although I suspect this effort is mainly an effort to enhace their brand and not actually to secure their customer’s data. However, it just so happens that Google also makes one of the most popular web browsers on the market and this recent focus on security may soon be impacting your website.

New versions of Google will begin notifying browsers when they are on an uncrypted website. They will do this by displaying a padlock with a red “x” on it. The red “X” does two things:

1) It makes your website less trustworthy in the eyes of the user
2) It shames the website owner into securing the website with HTTPS

This is already on top of the fact that Google has stated that their search algorithm now favors sites that utilize HTTPS technology over sites that do not.

Going HTTPS is easy and while not free, is not very expensive, either. Simply install a SSL certificate on your website. This can most likely be taken care of by your hosting company or your web development company.